Hey Scribbs, love seeing all the new updates in the new year. Just wanted to pop by and mention, I find it so refreshing to see so many POC in AWKI, especially in the love interests. Was this a conscious decision?

Not only POC but also many shapes, for instance, when I inevitably play AWKI, I'd want to go for the curvy and beautiful Gloria Miller (yes, I'd actually go her route first and not Micah/Jude lol! I'm just as surprised as you). It all makes me very happy!

Hey Scribbs, love seeing all the new updates in the new year. Just wanted to pop by and mention, I find it so refreshing to see so many POC in AWKI, especially in the love interests. Was this a conscious decision?

Not only POC but also many shapes, for instance, when I inevitably play AWKI, I'd want to go for the curvy and beautiful Gloria Miller (yes, I'd actually go her route first and not Micah/Jude lol! I'm just as surprised as you). It all makes me very happy!

it was conscious! I know it's something people ask about, and appreciate so after I designed the character's personalities I tried to design their physical appearance to be a wide range. I know people really liked Delilah from PI being able to play different skin tones and hair colors, and I wanted to take that a step further. Plus I think more scifi/fantasy stuff desperately needs more diversity, because there is literally no reason for there not to be lol

I suppose I won't really know how well those choices are received until the game is out, but I'm hopeful that people like it

it was conscious! I know it's something people ask about, and appreciate so after I designed the character's personalities I tried to design their physical appearance to be a wide range.

Having played an early build, where most of the sprites were still placeholders, I have to say I've been pleasantly surprised at the variety as you've been revealing sprites. But somehow all of the appearances perfectly fit the characters. (Kudos to your sprite artist for this, too.)

it was conscious! I know it's something people ask about, and appreciate so after I designed the character's personalities I tried to design their physical appearance to be a wide range.

Having played an early build, where most of the sprites were still placeholders, I have to say I've been pleasantly surprised at the variety as you've been revealing sprites. But somehow all of the appearances perfectly fit the characters. (Kudos to your sprite artist for this, too.)

I love the character art and the setting! What is the rough scope in terms of wordcount and/or play time do you think?

Does sketchy, work-in-progress art in a demo really annoy you? Or any aspect that it *has* to have? (Like it must be color, but sketchy is ok)
Nope does not annoy me as long as it's 50% or less of sketchiness. Whether that's across the board (eg the half-way sketchy character art in the opening post for every character) or a mix of sketchy (rough uncoloured stickman) art and final quality art. The art has to be "nice enough" not to ruin the gameplay experience.

Any characters that you are particularly interested in?
Not specifically, but in terms of romance, visually I would probably be interested in 2 > 1 > 4 > 3 at the start. The actual order I would choose to romance depends on what kind of interactions I get with them. ^_^

Any characters you don’t really like?
Nope.

Does the idea of a heavily branching visual novel appeal to you?
yes, Yes, YES!

But, provided the choice density is still high. I'd be disappointed if it was heavily branching but a 6 hour playthrough only has 3 choices. I wouldn't mind if it was 6 hours with 3 choices that heavily branched, and 100 choices that branched less though, as long as the major branches were clearly signposted.

Whether that's across the board (eg the half-way sketchy character art in the opening post for every character) or a mix of sketchy (rough uncoloured stickman) art and final quality art. The art has to be "nice enough" not to ruin the gameplay experience.

Some of the spirtes will be the sketchy version you see, while others will be highly polished and finished.I'm planning to run a Kickstarter to help me fund the rest of the game ^^I really want high quality assets but they are expensive lol

Does the idea of a heavily branching visual novel appeal to you?
yes, Yes, YES!

But, provided the choice density is still high. I'd be disappointed if it was heavily branching but a 6 hour playthrough only has 3 choices. I wouldn't mind if it was 6 hours with 3 choices that heavily branched, and 100 choices that branched less though, as long as the major branches were clearly signposted.

I don't think you will be disappointed then, there are a ton of choices that effect where you go/who you meet/ and more. I am more interested in letting the player tell their own story using my characters/setting than I am in telling a linear story lol

This is the first example of a branching path in the game (I think it is the 2nd choice). It'll determine who you meet first, among other things. (uh, ignore the placeholder art lol)

Hopefully this is what you were hoping for! ^^

You'll also be choosing 1 of 4 careers that will essentially be 4 different routes with overlap and a common story that runs throughout, not to mention any relationships you try to build on (romantic and platonic). I am hoping it'll have a lot of replay value

Sorry if you already know all of this, but I've got two monitors, a decent one and a crappy one, and I noticed today that I couldn't see Micah's facial features on my crappy monitor (because the contrast was too low), only his eyes. I took a photo of both monitors to show you how it compares. Obviously if you have high contrast/high brightness on yours you might still not be able to see what I see. I can see details on the left, but on the right it's just a mass of black with two white eyeballs and a tiny bit of teeth.

Anyway, just thought I'd let you know. I am sure once the shadows/highlights are applied a lot of the detail in his face will become more apparent.

Sorry if you already know all of this, but I've got two monitors, a decent one and a crappy one, and I noticed today that I couldn't see Micah's facial features on my crappy monitor (because the contrast was too low), only his eyes. I took a photo of both monitors to show you how it compares. Obviously if you have high contrast/high brightness on yours you might still not be able to see what I see. I can see details on the left, but on the right it's just a mass of black with two white eyeballs and a tiny bit of teeth.

Anyway, just thought I'd let you know. I am sure once the shadows/highlights are applied a lot of the detail in his face will become more apparent.

I'll pass the info onto the artist! I imagine once he's shaded his features will pop out more, though, like you said. But I'll let her know